# Field trial and modeling of transmission blocking vaccine to prevent Lyme disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2021 · $705,010

## Abstract

Summary
Estimates from the CDC indicate that over 300,000 people are diagnosed each year with LD.
Ecological approaches to decrease B. burgdorferi burden in Ixodes ticks, and transmission to other
hosts, are highly desired tools for use instead of the current `check for ticks' approach. It is well
established that after a vertebrate host is immunized with B. burgdorferi' OspA they produce antibody
that, upon bloodmeal ingestion by a feeding tick, kills B. burgdorferi within that tick. These are known as
transmission-blocking vaccines (TBV). These tools, including TBV, have not been proven to decrease
B. burgdorferi exposure in critical intermediate incidental host(s). In North America, both humans and
dogs are incidental hosts of B. burgdorferi. We and others have demonstrated that dogs can serve as
stand-in/proxies for human exposure to infected ticks. Hunting dogs are a robust model for this trial
because they serve both as a proxy of an active outdoors incidental host (like people at high-risk of
contracting LD) and are a conduit of ticks into domestic habitats, increasing human exposure. The goal
of this work is to demonstrate that a commercial-grade reservoir targeted TBV alters B. burgdorferi
infection prevalence in questing ticks, in endemic areas (PA and MD) geographically distinct from the
first field trial (NY). To show proof-of-principle for an ecological disruption of Borrelia transmission, we
propose to: 1) establish the efficacy of a commercial-grade reservoir targeted transmission blocking
vaccine (TBV) in reducing prevalence of B. burgdorferi in the tick vector and how it affects clinical
disease in incidental hosts (dogs) in a five-year field study 2) Use a Bayesian hierarchical statistical
model to estimate how TBV treatment of infected ecosystems will alter human B. burgdorferi exposure.
These proposed studies are highly significant to public health as a field trial demonstration of a TBV
that disrupts the enzootic transmission cycle of B. burgdorferi to incidental hosts. Furthermore,
demonstration of reduced human (incidental host) Lyme disease will be performed through a stochastic
Bayesian model that will provide critical evidence for a new tool to decrease environmental exposure to
Lyme disease. This work innovates as a demonstration of an efficacious, easily distributable and
inexpensive TBV that reduces B. burgdorferi prevalence in nymphal and adult ticks, as well as B.
burgdorferi transmission from ticks to incidental hosts. Reduction of transmission of B. burgdorferi to
incidental hosts as a result of TBV distribution will prove to be a paradigm-shifting strategy to reduce
the burden of Lyme disease in veterinary and human populations. Findings from experiments proposed
in this study will advance translational knowledge of B. burgdorferi vaccinology and will provide strong
evidence regarding the possibility of TBV reducing the human health risk of exposure to Lyme disease
across the United States.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10159849
- **Project number:** 5R01AI139267-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria Gomes-Solecki
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $705,010
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-19 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10159849

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10159849, Field trial and modeling of transmission blocking vaccine to prevent Lyme disease (5R01AI139267-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10159849. Licensed CC0.

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